2001 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva Tenute Marchese

I recently managed to put my hands on some 10 years old wines from Spain and Italy that I look forward to open and see how they evolved. Last night I got to open and taste one of these bottles. All these wines were stored in the same place by the merchant for probably more than 8 years so the provenance was perfectly traceable. The bottles were full of dust and the labels with some scratches but all in all the corks at least on the top surface looked clean and in perfect shape.

2001 Antinori Chianti Classico Riserva Tenute Marchese

It was quite a challenge to open this bottle because the cork was covered by wine almost completely and I used a really bad tool during the process to uncork it. However after breaking the cork in two pieces I managed to take it out without dropping any parts in the bottle. Unfortunately I tasted the wine at a remote location and I did not have a decanter to pour the wine into it so the breathing of the wine took place only in the glass. For sure a proper decanting and 30-45 minutes breathing would have helped the wine more. The wine shows its age and the stage of complete maturity from the moment it is poured in the glass. It developed beautiful tertiary aromas still maintaining discreet fruit flavors.

The wine has a brownish-red garnet color with brick tones to the rim. The nose has a medium intensity and is fully developed with saddle leather, truffles, caramelized smoked dark fruits, mushrooms and earth. In the mouth the wine is medium bodied, with a nice mouth feel and melted tannins, matured, well balanced, already passed its best but offering great pleasure now. There is a short to medium finish with an earthy and dark chocolate aftertaste. Drink it up. Great with lamb. 88+ points

I enjoyed the wine a lot and I think that it should be consumed this year because the wine had its peak already and now is steadily going down.